One year, I took my mom and my daughters to Victoria for a girls’ weekend getaway. We ended up buying so many books they filled our suitcase and we had to put our clothes in garbage bags on the ferry home.
Two years later, the three of us went to Portland for another weekend. But this was no ordinary girls’ weekend. Portland is home to Powell’s, and this weekend was a pilgrimage.
We spent hours at Powell’s both days we were in town. I spent so much money that the bookseller who rang us up gave us an honorary 10% discount. I spent the entire savings at Powell’s the next day. The receipts from those purchases are more than two feet long and hang above my desk to this day.
But for this trip, I came prepared. I brought a bookcase.
